


A Love Circle

by Chocolate_at_heart



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, F/M, Identity Reveal, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Reverse Crush AU, Slips into Reverse Crush AU??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-07 09:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7708999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolate_at_heart/pseuds/Chocolate_at_heart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marinette had been trying for years to earn her crush's affection, and, so has Adrien. But with no such luck after nearly four years, maybe they'll both give someone else a chance. </p><p>Thus, they continue to dance around each other in a circle, always so close, but so far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first Miraculous fan fiction! Hope it's not too shabby! ^u^

Marinette shut off her alarm as she groggily got out of bed, and sleepily sat down in her desk chair. She turned on her computer as smiled at her Adrien wallpaper, the same wallpaper for two years. She got dressed and walked downstairs, as she sat down at the counter, already full of breakfast.

"Thanks mom," She smiled as she dug in.

"No problem dear, but, you might want to hurry, you're going to be late for your first day of Junior year!" Her mom said pointing to the clock.

"AAH! Thanksmomgottagonowbye!" She slurred and rushed out the door slinging her bag over her back. Her mom chuckled and shook her head as she began putting away her breakfast.

Marinette ran to the school, Tikki floating just over her open purse.

"Are you excited for your Junior year Marinette? Who knows, maybe this will be the year Adrien finally notices you!" 

Marinette stopped dead in her tracks, and frowned.

"What's wrong Marinette? Don't you want Adrien to notice you?"

"No Tikki it's not that, it's just..." She sighed. "It's been four years now, and next year will be the last year that I know I'm still going to see him."

"You could still go to the same college, and besides, don't look at it as next year is your last year together, you still have two years left with him for sure, and maybe much more depending on what college you go to!" Tikki encouraged.

"But what if Adrien ends up never noticing me, or worse, what if I finally tell him and rejects me? Then I've wasted 6 years pining over someone who never loved me back."

"Oh Marinette, even if Adrien doesn't love you in that way, he will always be there for you as a friend, and don't you want that as well?"

"I...I suppose. But I had always hoped that with time..."

\-------

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you had always hoped that in time, Ladybug would love you back. You've hoped for four years, what's the big deal all of a sudden? It's not like she's going away anytime soon." Plagg tossed a piece of Camembert in the air and caught it in his mouth. 

"That's just it Plagg! I've hoped for four years now, and still I hardly know anything about her outside of the mask. Given, in the mask, I probably know her better than anyone, but it's like she doesn't trust me, after all this time, I'm no closer to knowing her outside the mask than when four years ago when I first became Chat Noir."

Adrien heard footsteps approaching his room and Plagg quickly dove into his jacket.

"Adrien it's time to go." Natalie stated. 

"Coming!"

\-------

Marinette sighed. "I don't know Tikki, he's so hard to read, and it doesn't help I space out every time I look at him."

"That's true, but even if you can't read him, he could still reciprocate your feelings, after all, you have come a long way from the stuttering mess you were 2 years ago. Given, you still stutter a bit around him, but you two have become a lot closer!"

"I know Tikki, and I'm really happy that we have, but at the same time, it's devastating to realize that every time I think we might be making progress, that he might like me as more than a friend, it's all platonic. I love that we have become closer, Tikki, but it's also torture to be around someone you love so much, and they're completely oblivious to your affections." Marinette looked down at her Kwami. "I guess you wouldn't know what that's like."

Tikki smiled, almost like she was reminiscing on something. "I do, actually."

"What? How could you know what that's like?" 'Can Kwamis fall in love?' Marinette pondered.

But before Marinette could prod her further, Tikki dove into her purse and snapped it shut.

"Marinette! There you are girl!" Alya swung her arm around her BFF's neck. "Come on you're going to be late for you first day as a Junior!"

\-------

Adrien's limo pulled up to the school, Chloe didn't waste a second as soon as he stepped out.

"ADRIKINS!!" Chloe screeched as she bombarded him with kisses and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

Adrien winced and gently pushed her off. He never really liked summer, since he didn't get to see his friends nearly as much, but if there was one thing he missed about summer, it was not having Chloe shamelessly and constantly drape herself all over him like a suffocating blanket. Well, that and not getting to see his Lady as often either. Summertime was a slow time for akumas, it seemed, without the stress of school around, less people we're getting akumatized, and while that was good, it unfortunately came with the side effect of not getting to see Ladybug as often.

"Eh, hi Chloe."

"Adrikins I missed you so much!" Chloe shouted pulling him for another embrace.

Adrien pulled away, "Whoops, look at the time, gotta get to class!" He smiled nervously.

Adrien quickly walked away and Plagg popped out of his jacket, "You know, what's so bad about Chloe? At least she likes you already. Why don't you look at what you already have rather than pining over someone you may never get?"

"Plagg, I am NOT going to be getting together with Chloe anytime soon." Adrien rolled his eyes, "And thanks for the encouragement."

"That's what I'm here for."

Adrien saw Nino approaching, as he had already gotten here and was waiting for his friend. "Plagg, hide!"

"Hey bro! I haven't seen you in forever! How've you been man?" Nino exclaimed clapping his friend on the back.

"Nothing unusual, what about you?"

"Well actually, Alya's birthday is coming up soon, and I don't know what to get her." He blushed slightly and re-adjusted his cap.

"Nino, I'm sure you'll think of something, you did the last two times and she loved it!"

"I know, but I always stress about it bro."

"Well speak of the devil," Adrien stated, nudging him and nodding over to behind Nino, where Alya and Marinette were walking together and approaching. Marinette laughed at something Alya said and Marinette seemed to come back with a witty response, as Alya laughed back. Adrien frowned. He always wondered why Marinette seemed to clam up around him. True, she had gotten more comfortable around him over the years, but she was never truly herself, not to mention at the start of every new year it seemed to go back to square one. At first, he chalked it up to his celebrity status, and when he heard Marinette was a huge fan of his father's work as well, he concluded Marinette was always nervous to make a good impression on him, since he could have influence on his father's thoughts of her. But then the derby hat competition came along, and all those thoughts went down the drain. He had seen Marinette not only speak to his father without stuttering, but with -confidence-, no less. So then he thought it must be because he was friends with Chloe and Marinette never actually became comfortable with him as a friend, and was nice to him just because he was friends with her friends. But that theory was tossed out as well, when he saw her try to actively befriend Sabrina, and she befriended her first, even if only for a little while, but she was natural around her. Adrien was flabbergasted, nothing seemed to make sense, so he just assumed she never really got over the gum incident, and maybe just had some trust issues with him. It still didn't make complete sense, she was so confident around everyone else, a leader, even, at times, and the exact opposite with him, but that was the best he could come up with.

Adrien pulled himself out of his train of thought just when Alya and Marinette had walked up to them.

"Hey guys! How are you guys doing? Haven't seen you in so long!" Alya smiled brightly at them.

Alya roughly nudged her friend in the side.

"Ow! I mean, h-how! Are you doing? How you are? I-I mean, are you, and your summer. How was you summer?" Marinette face palmed and groaned.

"Oh, it was alright, what about yours Marinette?" Adrien smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck. It was always awkward to make someone so nervous around him that they couldn't even form coherent sentences.

"G-good! I did-I had, I mean, i-it was fine!"

Before Adrien could respond, the bell rang, and they headed to class.

\-------

"Girl, you need to get ahold of yourself!" Alya said sitting next to her best friend in class, "You we're doing better before the year ended, why is it every time you come back it's like starting over?"

Marinette groaned, "Ugh... I know, it's like the shock of seeing him brings me back to when I first fell for him." Marinette sighed and plopped her head down on her desk. 

Alya shook her head and smiled, and patted her friend's head. "Oh, girl."

A moment later, Adrien and Nino entered the classroom and sat down in front of them. 

"-and we spent two whole weeks there bro! It was totally epic." 

Ms. Bustier walked into the classroom and shut the door behind her. The nice thing about a small high school is having the same teachers throughout the years. True, not all the teachers were something to look forward to, for example, the sciences teacher, Ms. Mendeleiev, but the familiarity was comforting to Marinette. Marinette frowned, the school was pretty small, it was probably why Chloe was in her class every single year, but hey, at least she was lucky enough that so were her friends.

"Welcome back to school, students. I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing summer. I know you all are still in summer mode, but you are all Juniors now, so be prepared to get your minds back into school thinking rather quickly, this year and the next will be your most important years of high school."

Marinette almost scoffed out loud when she said, "relaxing summer." While she hadn't been needed as Ladybug as much over summer than during the school year, she was pretty sure that most other students had a far more, "relaxing summer," than she had had.

Not that she wasn't complaining, she wouldn't give up being Ladybug for the world. She wouldn't give up Tikki for the world. She also had missed her Chaton, since she didn't get to see him as much over summer, but she'd never admit that to him, she wouldn't hear the end of it. As if his puns weren't bad enough. She smiled at the thought of seeing her friend more often, though she felt kind of bad since that meant more people would be akumatized, she couldn't help the small grin forming on her lips.

"Thinking of someone?" Alya whispered as she smirked and nudged her BFF in the arm.

Marinette shook herself out of her thoughts, "W-what?"

"Oh come on girl, I saw that dreamy smile, don't try to cover it up." Alya chuckled, and thought to herself, 'Now if only Adrien could notice it that easily.'

"Oh. Oh! Y-yeah! I was...thinking about someone alright!" Marinette laughed nervously.

Alya chuckled and turned away, eyes back on the teacher currently writing on the chalkboard.

Marinette frowned, 'I was soo not smiling dreamily, blech,' she thought grumpily.

\-------

The day passed quickly, and Marinette walked home as usual and promptly went upstairs to let Tikki out and talk about her first day back at school.

"Tikki, ugh, it's just torture, torture!" Marinette groaned and shoved her face into her pillow.

"Marinette, unless you just get it over with and tell him about it, what else is there to do?" Tikki sighed and floated over to her, gently resting next to her head.

Marinette sat up suddenly, a plain and unreadable expression on her face.

"Marinette?" Tikki suddenly became worried.

"You're-you're right Tikki."

Tikki immediately flew up in front of her face, "Marinette, are you going to finally tell him you're true feelings about him?!" 

"No," Marinette stated, and Tikki's expression of shock quickly changed to confusion.

"What else IS there to be done Tikki?" Marinette walked over to the middle of her room. Then, without a word, she took down every single poster of Adrien, every picture, deleted her computer wallpaper, took down Adrien's schedule, and threw it all out. 

Tikki's jaw was touching the floor, "Marinette... What... But why... I don't understand how..."

"Tikki, there is only one other thing to be done. I don't want to have him reject me, but to continue loving him without return is torture. So it's simple, I'm going to stop loving him.

To say Tikki was utterly shocked was an understatement, "Marinette, this is not the way to deal with unreciprocated feelings."

"Tikki, this is the ONLY way to deal with unreciprocated feelings." 

"Marinette! You don't even know if he doesn't return your feelings!" Tikki said, exasperated.

Marinette wasn't paying attention though, she looked around her room, it was... rather empty, now that everything Adrien was gone. 

Tikki looked at the clock, 11:57 p.m.

"Marinette, we'll talk about this later, right now let's get to sleep."

"You can go ahead Tikki, I'm going to stay up a little bit, to redecorate." Marinette noted Tikki's frown of disapproval, and added, "I won't stay up late, I promise." 

Tikki, however, was far from convinced. Marinette sighed, "Look, I'll set an alarm, alright?" Tikki sighed in resignation and shook her head, but floated up next to her pillow and laid down anyways.

\-------

Adrien was at home, alone, not unusual. But he was venting to Plagg, who was munching on cheese while not entirely listening to the boy.

Adrien was still upset about the fact that Marinette wasn't really friends with him. She was so kind and compassionate to everyone else, but at the same time confident and she stood up for others when they were being put down. He desperately wanted that kind of friendship with her, not to say that he wasn't extremely grateful to have Nino, but he still wished to have more than just one close friend.

"I don't get it Plagg! It's like no one trusts me. Ladybug doesn't trust me after all these years, and apparently, neither does Marinette after just as long." Adrien sighed and flopped down on his bed.

Absentmindedly, Plagg said, "Well, then do something about it, kid." And shoved another piece of cheese in his mouth.

Adrien turned his head to his Kwami, "Gee, what great advice, thanks, Plagg." He said sarcastically, but then he paused, and sat up. "What great advice Plagg..."

\-------

Marinette had fallen asleep at her desk the night before, over her sketch book. Tikki had just awoken and yawned. She looked over in her bed, but alas, there was no Marinette there. Then she looked over to her desk and shook her head. "'I won't stay up late, I promise,' 'I'll set an alarm, alright?'" Tikki mimicked.

She floated over to her wielder, and nudged her on the cheek, "Marinette...Marinette wake up." 

Marinette groaned and fluttered open her eyes. "Oh hey..." She paused to yawn, "Tikki. Good morning." She smiled sleepily. It was then Tikki noticed her new room decor, it had a Ladybug and Chat Noir poster, a picture of her and her family on the wall, a picture of her and her friends in the frame on her desk, a Jagged Stone poster, and a couple of her best designs on the wall as well.

"Wow, it almost looks like another room in here..." She floated around, inspecting everything. She tapped a button on her computer keyboard to turn it on, it still had the default wallpaper. 

"That's what I was working on before I fell asleep." Marinette showed Tikki her still opened sketchbook, which had a sketch of Chat Noir in it. "I'm going to make my new background a combination of the things important to me, this combines my artistic talent, my double life, and my partner." 

Tikki smiled, the girl seemed to have a new air around her, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. "Wow, you've really turned a new leaf, Marinette."

"Thanks, Tikki." Marinette smiled warmly. She turned to look at the time on her computer, her eyes suddenly widening, "AHH! I'M LATE I'M LATE I'M LATE!"

\-------

Adrien had always tried to coax Marinette out of her shell, to get her to trust him, to befriend him, to open up around him. But now, it was his goal. He was going to make Marinette his friend if it killed him. 

This was their Junior year now, he wanted to have a long-lasting friend before they all parted ways and went off to college, then the chances of him befriending her would be next to zero.

"Hey bro! What's up?" Nino said, snapping Adrien out of his thoughts. "You look so distracted."

"Well, actually..."

\-------

Alya was worried, to say the least. At first she suspected maybe all the tripping she did every day had finally affected her and she was suffering brain damage.

"Alya, just you watch, I'm going to be completely cool around him. From now on, he is no more than a good friend to me." 

Marinette had gone through this thing before, but previously Alya had always coaxed her friend out of this silly thinking. But now, Marinette seemed to have her mind made up, and when Marinette's mind was made up, REALLY made up, there was nothing that could change it. 

"Well, girl, if you say so. I don't think you're going to be able to just turn it off like that, but here's your chance to prove yourself." Alya nudged her and nodded over to Adrien and Nino, standing near the steps of their school.

Marinette's breath suddenly quickened and her cheeks went red. 'Look at how dreamy he looks...' She stopped, shook those thoughts from her head, took a deep breath, and looked over at Alya. With a determined look on her face, Marinette nodded. "Let's do this."


	2. It's official, she doesn't want to be my friend

Adrien had told Nino his plan to befriend Marinette, what he needed was alone time with her, when they were all in a group it was easy for her to not be included and ultimately not bond at all with him. Once Adrien told Nino his plan, it was everything Nino could do not to burst out in laughter at the hilariousness of it all. 'I can't wait to tell Alya,' he thought.

"Well bro, let's see if it works, then." He said just before Marinette and Alya approached.

Adrien realized that it might be a long shot to become really close with her in just the course of the school year, but at the very least, he hoped that she would get comfortable enough around him to never stutter when she was talking to him again.

"Hey Adrien! How are you today?"

Well, that was easy.

Adrien and Nino tried to keep their jaws shut. Marinette seemed to be completely natural around him, for whatever reason, and Alya, was looking impressed. 

'I am so going to ask Alya about this later.' Nino thought.

Adrien was so shocked, at the complete flip in this girl's attitude around him, he had trouble getting thinking of what he had planned to say.

"Uh.... H-hey Marinette. You-you- uh... I mean, uh....." Adrien felt like an idiot, 'Good, Adrien, now you're a stuttering mess.' He wanted to slap himself.

Alya was on the brink of doubling over right then and there, and Nino was so confused, but he managed to nudge his friend in the side.

Snapping out of his stupor, Adrien suddenly blurted out, "YOU LOOK NICE TODAY."

Marinette's eyes widened to the size of saucers and her face turned beet red. Adrien quickly realized what he said and he had a similar reaction. 

"I-I mean, you look nice everyday, but you look extra nice today, is-that's what I meant. To say." Adrien felt ridiculous.

Ally's face was very read as well, but not because the same reason as Adrien's and Marinette's were, but because she was trying oh so hard to hold back her laughter.

"Uh," Marinette chuckled nervously, "T-thanks, Adrien." 'No, no, no, he cannot be doing this, not now, not when I've made this decision, he cannot be all friendly and sweet like that today, oh no, no, no, no...' Marinette thought, her panic rising.

Before anyone else could get out another dreadful word, the bell rang, and they headed to class.

\------

'What an idiot,' Adrien thought while the teacher lectured on. He hadn't been expecting that at all, and because of his shock, had made a complete fool out of himself. Adrien groaned and plopped his head on his desk. 

Adrien took a deep breath, and lifted his head back up. 'Okay, I just hadn't expected that,' he pep talked himself, 'The plan is still on, after class ends.'

Meanwhile Nino was also waiting for class to end, so he could ask Alya what on earth she had done with Marinette. Maybe an akumatized victim was pretending to be her, kind of like Copycat. Yeah, that's what had happened, now they just needed to find the real Marinette.

\-------

When the class ended, Marinette was putting her things into her bag when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.

"A-Adrien!" 'Come Marinette, you can do this!' She encouraged herself. She calmed herself and looked up at him, "What's up?" She smiled nervously.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to see this cool new movie with me tomorrow, since it's Labor Day and all. Nino couldn't come, but I thought you might like it."

Red alerts rang and flashed in Marinette's head. 'Being alone with Adrien, watching a movie with him, maybe touching his hand...' she stopped her train of thought, and corrected herself, 'Is the last thing I need right now.' 

"Oh... tomorrow? Oh, I'm sorry but I, uh, have to help my parents with a big order tomorrow in the bakery! They need by tomorrow! Yeah!" Marinette quickly added, "I'm really sorry though!"

Adrien was crestfallen, but put on a smile, "Oh! No worries! Well, see you later, Marinette!" 

Meanwhile, Nino and Alya were standing nearby, absolutely shocked. 

Alya had already had Nino all caught up on Marinette's new plan, and Nino filled Alya in on Adrien's new plan, but they were still surprised at how well Marinette was holding her own.

Adrien turned to leave, but he was still determined to befriend Marinette. He wasn't giving up so easily.

\-------

Marinette was walking home, impressed at her own self control and confidence.

Tikki was hovering above her purse, "Marinette, I think you hurt Adrien's feelings, I thought you were still going to be friends with him even though you decided to stop your feelings for him."

"Of course I'm still going to be friends with him Tikki! I just... need to be away from him at first, is all."

"Alright, but you should make it up to Adrien, I don't know if he knew if you were lying or not, but I was watching it all from your bag, he seemed pretty crestfallen."

"What? He said it was fine! It's not that big of a deal anyways, he just wanted to see a movie with me because Nino couldn't, for some reason."

\-------

'Tomorrow,' Adrien thought. 'I'm going to visit her tomorrow in her bakery. I probably won't make much progress tomorrow, since she's so busy with that order, but at least I'll just drop by and say hi, and casually suggest a raincheck on the da...' Adrien frowned, 'I hope Marinette doesn't get the wrong idea about this.'

Adrien went to sleep, determined as ever, and woke up the next morning with high expectations for the day. The limo dropped him off in front of the bakery, and he told Gorilla to pick him up in a half hour, and that he just needed to borrow her book temporarily.

The limo drove away and Adrien walked up to the door, but there was a note on it. 

"CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY, ALL PREVIOUSLY PLACED ORDERS WILL BE FINISHED TOMORROW."

Adrien re-read the sign, to make sure he had read it right. 'Marinette had said she needed to finish a big order by today..." He was confused, but then it clicked. 

Marinette had lied to him.

She didn't want to see the movie with him.

It was official, Marinette didn't like him.

\-------

Adrien was hurt, he had always felt distance between them, but she seemed to want nothing to do with him. He needed to get away from his real life right now. He needed to forget it all for just a little bit.

Adrien ran into a nearby alley and Plagg popped out of his jacket.

"Kid, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this-"

"Plagg, I don't want to hear it, right now, I need to forget about all of this."

"Wait a minute, you better not be thinking-"

"Plagg, transform me!"

A second later, Chat Noir was standing where Adrien was, and he extended his stick to stand on a nearby rooftop. He could see the Dupain-Chen bakery a couple rooftops away, and he saw movement inside the top of the building through an open window. And just like that, all thoughts of forgetting about his troubles were thrown out the window, as he threw himself IN the window. 

Marinette was shocked, she hadn't expected to see him until the next akuma attack, wait, this must mean that there was an akuma attack right now. 'I need to get away to transform.' She immediately thought, reflex kicking in.

"You know Purrincess, you really shouldn't leave your window open. You could let the stray cats in."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I'm not rushing this too much, leave a comment letting me know what you think! ^u^
> 
> Also this one's a lot shorter because I wanted to jumpstart the story in the first chapter and partially in this one. I'll try to come out with shorter chapters on a semi-frequent, semi-regular basis.


	3. And on this day, Marinette learned an important lesson: to always take the garbage out

"Chat Noir?! What are you doing here?!" Marinette exclaimed, "Is there an akuma attack?"

Whoops. He hadn't thought this through all the way. 

"What? I can't drop by to see my Princess?" He smirked, leaning on his baton.

"Uh..." Marinette blinked, he... came by... just... to visit? "Okay, so now why did you really come by?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

He sighed, "I was lonely, Princess."

Marinette blinked again, he... came by... just... to visit. It was rather sudden, and, not to mention, an invasion of privacy. "You could have at least knocked!" She harrumphed and turned her back to him, "I-I could have been taking a shower!" She turned back around to glare at him.

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. 

She deadpanned and turned him around, pushing him back towards the window, "Okay Kitty, this has been great and all, but it's time to go now, bye-bye." 

"Wait!" He turned back around, "I... was having a bad day. I'm sorry to invade on your privacy like this," he sighed, "I'll leave now."

He turned around to go and Marinette bit her lip and furrowed her brow. She was probably going to regret this. "Hey, now, I mean, you can stay for a little while, I suppose..."

He whipped back around, "Really?" 

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, really." 'I regret it already,' She thought.

\-------

Marinette had gone downstairs to sneak up a few pastries for him, and he was now sitting on her bed, waiting for her to return. He looked around her room. She must have redecorated over summer. The few previous times he had been there, her room had looked ironically empty, he thought for sure there would be posters and designs all over the walls and her desk. Then his eyes settled on her trash bin, which was currently overflowing with what seemed to be lots of large sheets of rolled up paper and magazines. 

'Wait,' He thought, and walked over to the bin, 'This... This is a poster. MY poster.' He took one out, and unrolled it. Sure enough it was one of his posters. He dropped it and crouched down next to the bin. There was one of his magazines, two, three, four magazines, and more posters, more and more and more posters, all posters of him, thrown in the garbage bin. He backed away from the bin slowly, 'Why does Marinette have all these posters of me, and magazines? But more importantly, why... are they all in the garbage?' 

He stood up. Marinette didn't just not like him, Marinette hated him.

Why else would there be lots of his merchandise in the garbage? 

"Hey Chat I brought a donut for you, that's all we have leftover from yesterday since we didn't make anything new to-" She came up the trapdoor but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him standing over her garbage can, with magazines and posters of Adrien scattered over the floor.

"Chat? What... what are you doing?" She swallowed nervously.

He visibly stiffened. "Uh... I just, saw all of this, in the garbage, and I, uh..." He turned around to face her. "Do you have a grudge against him or something?" 'Smooth Adrien, real smooth,' he thought as he felt like leaping out the window then and there.

"What!? Why would I have a grudge against him? And-and why does it matter to you anyways?" Marinette asked, flustered.

"It doesn't! I was just curious, that's all!" He quickly tried to cover up, "I mean, it's a little weird to have lots of his merchandise in the garbage."

"N-no it's not!" Marinette felt her entire face heating up, "It got sent here by accident! All that stuff! And there's no room for any of it in my room! S-see!" She quickly motioned over to her walls, "It must have just been a wrong address."

Chat narrowed his eyes, "Oh really?" He walked over to one of the posters, "Even this one, huh?"

"Y-yeah!"

"That's funny," He said, picking it up and examining it, "Because this one is a limited edition poster, available in stores only." He looked directly at her, "You went and bought it specifically."

Marinette looked like she was about to faint. "What! How do you know that?! And why does any of this matter anyways?!" She was getting so red and flustered she looked like she might be having a heat stroke.

Chat sighed, and put the poster down. "You hate him, don't you?"

"WHAT?!" Marinette had had just about enough of this, she didn't need Chat barging into her personal life. She looked like she was about to scream at the top of her lungs, but then she stopped, and let out a long breath. She turned away from him, "Chat, I don't know why you want to know, but no, I don't hate him, have a grudge on him, or anything like that, he is actually a close friend. The posters were delivered here by accident, maybe someone bought that other one and sent it with the other posters."

Chat's stopped listening at the words, "Close friend," It didn't make any sense. They were certainly not close friends. Marinette was obviously lying, just like she was lying about the poster. 

Chat was nearly heartbroken, Marinette didn't trust Adrien, and Ladybug didn't trust Chat either. And now, Marinette had lied to both sides of him. Was it... was it him? Was he just an untrustworthy person? He didn't feel like being around anyone right now though.

Abruptly, he said, "I have to go." And before Marinette could stop him, he vaulted out the window.

\-------

Marinette was stunned, and confused. She didn't understand anything that just happened. Right now, there was only one thing she understood, her Kitty was not happy. And she was not going to let it stay that way. So as soon as Chat had left, she immediately said, "Tikki, spots on!" And swung out the window.

\-------

Adrien still had some time before Gorilla came back to pick him up, it had only been ten minutes, although it felt like hours.

So he vaulted around the city, alone with his thoughts, and right now, that's how he wanted it to be. He stopped on the eiffel tower, and sat down. He didn't want to see anyone, not even his Lady right now, seeing her would just remind him that she still didn't trust him, along with Marinette. Though, he knew he wouldn't see her anyways, since it wasn't a patrol day. "I mean, unless there's an akuma attack within the next 20 minutes, but that's unlikely." He scoffed aloud as he leaned back onto a support.

And as soon as he had, screams were heard off in the distance. 'I guess I spoke too soon,' He thought, and vaulted off towards the direction they were coming from.


	4. Chapter 4

Ladybug was swinging over rooftops in search of Chat, when she heard the distant screams. "Seriously? Now?" Ladybug groaned in frustration. But really, when did the akuma ever come at convenient time? Ladybug huffed, annoyed, and changed her course to the direction of the screams.

She quickly arrived on scene, in the middle of chaos, dropped down on the ground with a thud.

"WHERE IS CHLOE BOURGEOIS?" The victim screamed as it used a small hand held device that seemed to project a tractor beam of some sort to take large chunks of buildings and toss them aside.

Ladybug retracted her yo-yo and sighed. She wished she could say she was surprised, but, honestly, she would have been more surprised if Chloe hadn't been the cause of an akuma.

"Hmm... Something about him is familiar..." Then Ladybug gasped as it clicked. Earlier that day, she had seen a boy during lunch, who was always reading comics about space travel and aliens, and was a little bit of a geek. The poor boy was reading another one of his comics, but had done so while walking, and was not paying attention where he was going, thus, bumping into Chloe, effectively knocking her over. Chloe immediately jumped up and proceeded to taunt him about his stupid comics, and how the nerds like him really do need glasses so they can watch where they're going. And well, you can figure out the rest.

"Dexter..." Ladybug frowned in thought. He was now dressed like one of the space explorers from his comic, complete with all their weapons. She saw a roll of paper sticking out of his pocket, most likely his comic book. 'That must be where the akuma is.' 

Ladybug was jostled out of her thoughts when a familiar thud was heard next to her.

"Where's his akuma?" Chat shouted over the chaos, not taking his eyes off the akuma.

"There!" Ladybug pointed, "In his pocket!"

Chat leapt toward him, not once looking at his Lady during the whole fight.

\-------

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She shouted, tossing the lucky charm in the air.

Chat looked away. He hadn't needed to use his Cataclysm, so, he, at least, had all the time in the world to talk with her after the fight. Right now, he just wanted to go home and collapse on his bed.

Ladybug walked over to Chat, "Chat?" She lay her hand on his shoulder, "Are you alright?"

He turned around, "I'm fine, m'Lady." He gave a half-hearted grin, but Ladybug saw right through it.

"Chat... if there's anything that's bugging you, you can always tell me abo-"

Chat abruptly sighed, "I better go before you transform back." And before Ladybug could stop him, he vaulted away.

\-------

"Chat! Wait!" But it fell on deaf ears.

*Beep beep*

Ladybug's frown deepened at the sound. She swung back home and de-transformed on her balcony, but she was going right back out as soon as Tikki finished eating. 

"Marinette, I know what you're thinking, but maybe Chat just needs some alone time right now." She said in-between munching on a cookie.

"Tikki, alone time is the last thing Chat needs right now." 

Tikki sighed and continued eating, it was impossible to stop Marinette when she got on these tangents, just like how it had been impossible to stop her from going on the I-don't-want-to-take-the-chance-Adrien-rejects-me-if-confess-my-feelings-but-it's-torture-to-love-him-without-reciprocated-feelings-so-I'm-just-going-to-stop-loving-him tangent.

Tikki didn't even say it this time, she had said it too many times before, and the words had lost their meaning by now, so instead, she thought them quietly in her head.

'Oh, Marinette.'

\-------

Chat had planned on getting some alone time. He had a set in stone plan. He was going to go home, and drop onto his bed and sleep for the rest of the day. Maybe the next day too. Maybe the rest of the week. 

Chat had *planned* on getting some alone time.

Chat had thought he had a set in stone plan.

And then he saw Marinette standing out all her balcony. And just like last time, all thoughts went down the garbage disposal and were obliterated from existence. What was it about Marinette that made his mind flip upside down? What was it about her that made him lose all track of thinking and common sense? How did just the sight of her change his entire day and plans? Before Chat even realized what he was doing, much less could stop himself, he found himself already vaulting toward her rooftop.

He landed softly on her balcony. 

"Chat?"

\-------

This was so unfair. This was all her fault. He had seen her, and in the spur of the moment, decided, for whatever insane reason, that it would be a good idea to land on her balcony, after leaving her like he had last time he had crashed through her window. 

"I..."

But before he could get another word out, he was enclosed in a warm hug. 

"Chat."

He was shocked for a moment, before slowly, he returned the hug. He realized Marinette must have thought he was upset with her for some mysterious reason, after leaving so suddenly the other day. It wasn't her fault, to let his life problems affect Marinette had been unfair. "Princess, I... wanted to apologize, for the other day, when I left. I wasn't mad at you, I was mad at..." Chat's voice drifted off. Who was he mad at? He wasn't mad at his Lady, he realized. As much as it hurt him that she still didn't want to reveal their identities, he could never be mad at her. He respected her decision, it was most likely the more responsible one, anyway. Then, who was he mad at, if not Marinette, and not his Lady?

Marinette looked up at him as Chat paused in his sentence.

Chat looked down at big, bluebell eyes. He looked away, "I was mad at myself."

Marinette loosened her arms around him, "Chat..."

"I don't feel like anyone trusts me, and, it must be my fault, because-"

"I trust you." 

Chat wanted to believe her, so, so badly. But how could he? Chat tightly shut his eyes, and kept his head turned away. He knew if he looked at her, any doubts would fly away, but that wasn't rational. He wanted to think rational, so he refused to look at her.

"Chat?"

Chat could hear the ache in her voice. It must have sure looked like he was still mad at her, despite what he had just said not a minute ago.

He turned his head toward her and opened his eyes. 

And there they were, those eyes, full of emotion. Was it... hope?

"Chat, do you trust me?"

"Of course, Princess." He smiled softly at her.

"Then trust me when I say, I completely trust you."

Chat's heart could have stopped right then and there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry this chapter took so long. I had difficulty writing the akuma, for some reason, and I wasn't really sure how much of the fight I wanted to write, in the end I decided I wanted this fic to be focused more on the romance than the akumas, but they'll still be there. Let me know what you thought in the comments!


	5. Chapter 5

Marinette didn't know where any of this was coming from. She knew Chat had occasionally expressed his disappointment that Ladybug still didn't, "trust him enough to reveal their identities," but Ladybug had always told it him that she trusted him with her life, and revealing their identities had nothing to do with trust, or they would have been revealed long ago.

That aside, she was surprised that even with what he was going through, he had dropped by to apologize for leaving so abruptly, and she felt a little happy that Chat had wanted to confide in plain Marinette, where he hadn't even wanted to talk to Ladybug. Although, maybe that was because he felt it was too personal to discuss with the boundaries Ladybug had put up.

Either way, Marinette was glad to see her Kitty, no matter what form she was in at the moment.

Although, at the moment, he had an unreadable expression on his face that made Marinette a little anxious.

\-------

Chat didn't know what to say. He couldn't help but believe with his heart and soul that Marinette really did trust him, against his better judgement. Marinette's arms were still loosely draped around his waist, and she was looking up at him with a curious expression. He couldn't think of anything to say, so he simply pulled her close for a tight hug.

"Thank you," Chat breathed out, "Thank you for trusting me."

Marinette, slightly shocked, slowly returned the hug, and smiled.

"Of course, Kitty."

Chat pulled away, rubbing the back of his neck and awkwardly adverting his gaze.

"I, uh, should probably get going..." He said, chuckling nervously.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Marinette smiled, "But your always free to drop by anytime."

Chat bowed dramatically, "Thank you princess."

"Au revoir!" Chat saluted, before vaulting off the balcony and into the distance.

\-------

Marinette collapsed into her spinning chair, and heaved out a sigh.

"What was that all about?" Marinette said aloud.

Tikki zoomed up to her, "Well, I guess you were right, looks like Chat didn't need any alone time after all."

"Hmm..." Marinette pondered, "I think Chat doubts himself a lot, much more than he lets on. His cocky facade is just to cover that up."

"I think you're right Marinette, but, could it be that Chat had a point when he felt like no one trusts him?" Tikki floated up and landed on her shoulder.

Marinette's head whipped around, "What?! Tikki, I trust Chat Noir with my life! He should know by now that both sides of me do."

"Marinette. You've been Ladybug for four years now, and you still have a brick wall around you when you're Ladybug. You don't let Chat come close to knowing anything about your personal life."

"But with good reason! If Hawkmoth ever found out we knew, he could use that against us, and-"

Tikki, exasperated, flew directly in front of Marinette's face, "Or could it be that you're nervous Chat won't like the girl under the mask?"

Marinette froze, with her mouth slightly agape, searching for words. Finding none, she heaved a sigh and dropped her head.

"You've put such a thick wall around you, for so long, Chat is mistaking as distrust towards him. Maybe it's time to let that wall down."

Marinette's head snapped up. "Tikki, you don't mean-"

"No, I don't. I know you're not ready for that, but maybe you could be a little more open with Chat? Try to get to know him a little more on a personal level, and let him, with you."

Marinette frowned, "I don't know Tikki... I know Chat Noir enough to honestly and whole-heartedly trust him, isn't that enough?"

Tikki shook her head, "But Chat doesn't know that, try to show him instead." Tikki looked at the clock, how time flies. "You should get to bed soon Marinette."

"Alright Tikki I will."

Tikki floated over next to her pillow, 'Yeah, right.'

\-------

Adrien crashed onto his bed, so happy, he couldn't stop smiling. He hadn't felt so cared about in a long time, and it felt so nice. 

Plagg floated over to him, "Well, well, someone looks happy," he said throwing a piece of cheese up in the air and catching it in his mouth.

Adrien sat up, "Plagg, do you really think Marinette trusts me?"

"No."

"Plagg!"

"What? You asked!" Plagg shrugged and continued carelessly eating his cheese.

Adrien sighed, "You really think she doesn't?"

"You asked if she trusted you, from what I've seen, the answer is probably not." 

Adrien rolled his eyes, "Encouraging as ever Plagg."

"BUT, it would sure seem as if she trusts Chat."

Adrien paused, "Maybe..." then frowned. "Well of COURSE she has to trust Chat! He's saved her life before! I just want her to trust Adrien, after how long I've known her, I just don't understand what it is that's stopping her from that."

"So? Why don't you ask her then?" Plagg stated, not paying attention.

Adrien thought about it. At this point, it's not like he'd have much to lose, she obviously hated his guts, so what's the worst that could come out of asking her why she did? He probably wouldn't get an answer anyway, but it was worth a shot...

\-------

The next morning Marinette and Alya were sitting in class a little early before class started, quite a rare sight, especially for the pigtailed girl to the right of her friend. 

"Okay girl, what's up with you? First you get this ridiculous plan in your head out of nowhere, and now you want to meet at school early?? What's gotten into you!"

Marinette took a deep breath. "Alya, I'm just tired of trying to win his affections with no hope of being able to do so. It hurts. I'm done hurting." She looked down toward the ground.

"Oh, Marinette..."

"It's like he's always there, just as soon as I try to lock myself inside and distance myself from this drama, it comes crashing through my window. Just when I think the dust is finally settling, he has to drudge it back up again. And now that I'm trying to finally get over him, he has to be all extra nice to me? It's not fair!" The ground in front of her started to blur.

"Oh sweetie, come here," Alya pulled her into a loving embrace and patted her on the back, "There, there. Let it out."

Marinette hugged her best friend tighter, and softly let a few rebellious tears fall down her cheek. After a minute she sat up, wiping her face with her sleeve.

"Okay, you know what girl, I shouldn't be telling you this... but..." She glanced up at the clock, there was still ten minutes before people would start filtering into class.

"Adrien got this weird idea from who knows where that you don't trust him. So he's trying extra hard to befriend you before school ends."

"What?!" Marinette pulled back, visibly shocked.

"Yeah... he thought, if he just had some alone time with you, maybe he could get to know you at a more personal level, you know, away from the group, so then you would be, uh, kinda forced to bond with him, I know, and..."

Marinette had already stopped listening. Adrien thought she didn't trust him? Ugh! What was with boys and thinking she didn't trust them! But on the bright side... Alya had said Adrien was trying to be -friends- with her. So maybe it wouldn't hurt after all to spend some alone time with him...

"Hello? Earth to Marinette!" Alya was waving her hand in front of her friend's face. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Uhh..." 

Alya shook her head, "Oh girl, what am I going to do with you?"

Just then the first bell rang and students started coming into class.

\-------

After class, Adrien was determined to ask Marinette why she had lied the other day, why she didn't trust enough, why she still wasn't comfortable around him after all these years... though perhaps the last one wasn't a valid question anymore, as he looked up to see none other than Marinette confidently striding toward him with a radiant smile on her face, Alya trailing right behind.

"Hey can I talk to you?" They both said simultaneously.

They paused, and chuckled a little, some of the tension slipping out of the air.

"Me first." Marinette said quickly regaining her composure, then hastily added, "Please."

Adrien was still extremely unused to this.

"Uhh..."

Marinette cleared her throat and continued before anything else could be said, "Um, right well, sorry we couldn't hang out yesterday, but I was wondering if you were free after school today? You could come over to my house and grab a bite to eat with me?" Marinette was clasping her hands together very tightly behind her back, but her face remained calm.

"Uhh..."

Nino nudged Adrien in the side, hard. "Dude," he whispered harshly.

Adrien was shaken out of his stupor.

"You're making Marinette nervous. Well, not that that's unusual, but... I mean you're also being kinda weird," he said making a face at his friend.

"Yes! I mean, right! T-to the, uh, y-your house. Is what I meant, yes, I'd like to come. After school."

Marinette visibly relaxed. "Great! Then it's a date!" 

Adrien's eyes widened. Marinette immediately clasped her hands over her mouth, "I-I mean! Not like a date-date! Just like, you know, a rendezvous! Hahaha!" She was laughing way too much.

"R-r-right! Of- of course! A, uh, I mean, not a, uhh... yeah... haha..."

"Okay then! Haha! See you later! Alligator! Hahahaha!!! B-Bye!"

Marinette and Alya quickly rushed out of the room.

It was silent, and Adrien's mind was at a blank at the moment.

"Dude."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha I'm alive is anyone still reading this lmao
> 
> anywayyy please comment! The few comments I get once in a while out of the blue are what made me want to continue writing this, and I'll try to update more frequently, or you know, at least more frequent than nearly a year gap rip


End file.
